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FJHRA/HSCC "Silverline" UK Championship Finals Meeting
Silverstone, 17th October 2015.

Thirty two cars turned out for the final race despite Andrew Tart already being unassailable in his yearlong bid to win the Championship. This didn't deter him or anyone else against having a real go which made for yet another superbly exciting race at the front and with class battles continuing throughout.

Friday free (sic) practice with many different formulae on track together didn't portend well; even uber careful Michael Hibberd was clobbered by an FF whatnot diving across his Brabham BT2 nose which also damaged the left front wheel and Tom de Gres hoping to gain useful seat experience in his sole class E2 Cooper T59 instead spent most of his time anxiously staring into the mirrors.
However, on with the motley.

For qualifying the excellent Brooklands tribune was a popular viewing spot and although temperatures were low the air was still ~~ until that is when FJ newcomer Cameron Jackson immediately hurled his ex-Simon Ham Brabham BT2 sideways into the Complex which fair put the wind up spectators and drivers alike. The ex-karting & Caterham  Formula Renault driver, although not having raced for years, continuing in this fashion looked and was fast but not fast enough, for Sam Wilson put his Lotus 20/22 on pole position with a 1:04.713 lap.
Andrew Hibberd's Lotus 22 in P2 locked out a Lotus front row and Cameron had to settle for P3 start, alongside wily Andrew Wilkinson's class D2 Lynx whose time was 1:06.840.
Will Mitcham drove his father Brian's class B2 U2 Mk2 with usual bravura and his 1:07.719 lap got him onto the third row of the grid only slightly slower than Michael Hibberd, in his admittedly now slightly wayward handling BT2, starting 5th.
Crispian Besley's and Andrew Taylor's rival class C2 Cooper T56s, BMC & Ford powered respectively, went in Crispian's favour although his 1:09.563 lap was less than 0.3 sec faster than Andrew's.
Tony Pearson's Bandini and Jan Biekens' Stanguellini represented class A, led by Tony's 1:20.062 lap. Unfortunately Mike Gregory's lovely De Tomaso ISIS had the throttle cable ferrule pull through the collar and without full bore he staggered round very slowly for a few laps, but at least he made the grid.
Andrea Guarino, enlivened the proceedings by twice spinning the Lotus 22 in exactly the same place and embarrassingly in full view of the Brooklands spectators, although to be fair one of these spins was induced by taking prior good care not to interfere with some fast cars passing through. With nothing to lose Andrew Tart contrived to spin his Bond somewhere out at the back of the circuit and John Arnold amusingly deployed the rear bodywork of his Elva 100 as an air brake; he dived into the pits, refixed the amazingly undamaged tail and shot back out again costing him only about 2 or 3 lost laps. Richard Bishop-Miller was cautious with his new and rather elegant Triumph Herald powered Autosport Mk2 and equally sensible was Hans Ciers' Lotus 20 ex Gordon Pate, ex Angela Cook in his first ever race, being tended by Dave Abbott.

At one minute past 2pm the race started and the spectators in the by now almost full Brooklands tribune were treated to twenty two minutes and 31 miles of fantastic motor racing in the best FJ tradition. It was edge of the seat stuff when A. Hibberd  got the drop on Wilson off the line with Jackson and Wilkinson in hot pursuit, but as they came into view it was Wilson who just led Hibberd into the Complex and then Jackson arrived at great speed flinging the Brabham sideways with howling rear tyres and as one the crowd gasped as he got away with it, displaying masterful car control if not exactly the fastest way to corner. For the next few laps it was more of the same with Hibberd often on Wilson's gearbox until Jackson took a very tight entry and went clean past Hibberd much to the approbation of his fan club. However he lost speed straightening the car up and Hibberd was in front again going round Luffield giving his followers their turn to shout loud encouragement. Next lap Jackson had another go but this time Hibberd ensured that there was no room and Jackson had to yield giving rise to more yells of excitement from the rival supporters.
Now it became even more exciting when the leaders started to catch the slower cars and Hibberd passed Wilson as they negotiated for the most lucrative position, but not so for Jackson who arriving at his usual speed simply ripped through them leading to more gasps of astonishment from the hearts in mouths spectators.
And so it went on lap after mesmerising lap; Wilson and Hibberd passed & repassed all around the circuit moving this way & that, in & out of slower cars; Jackson was on the curbs at Maggots and trying every trick he knew but by half distance he had all but destroyed his inherited rear tyres and finished 3rd whilst Wilson gradually pulled out a nearly 5 sec race winning advantage over Hibberd.
This pace was too hot for Wilkinson but he was well pleased with his important class D2 win and perhaps even more so with his 4th place because he and Mitcham crossed the line together with exactly the same recorded time down to the very last digit, but Wilkinson got the nod leaving Mitcham 5th and the class B2 win.
Meanwhile the Besley & Taylor duel was fought out with close and fair racing but they had reckoned without the always understated excellent driver Andrew Robertson in his immaculate Crossle who quietly stole past to take the class C2 win ahead of Taylor whilst Tart slipped past Besley who was being hampered by weedy brakes. 

Graham Barron's Gemini Mk2 dropped out after 7 laps which rather upset the visiting NZ FJ Chairman and dyed in the wool Gemini enthusiast Nigel Russell, but he was at least buoyed by seeing Bill Grimshaw's closely related Moorland take the flag.
Gregory's De Tomaso called into the pits for Dan Setford to rectify a carburettor float problem; he rejoined but missed the 80% class leader time cut and was not classified. Sadly the same fate befell the cautious Ciers, which was a shame for him on his debut but he did have the great joy of taking the chequered flag for the first ever time.
Most unfortunately Mike Walker's Bond failed almost at the end of the race as did long term FJ supporter Robin Longdon's Lola Mk2 with transmission failure.
De Gres knocked 2 secs off his qualifying time and finished 19th just behind Guarino who inexplicably spun twice more on the infield oil, whilst Biekens comfortably saw off Pearson to claim the class A win.

The podium prizegiving was a round of mutual congratulation by the first three, but I think the mood was succinctly summed up by Simon Diffey, who leapt up to Cameron with a big smile on his face exploding “Where the f… have YOU come from ?!!!”. Not bad for a first time out in the car, on delivery tyres and engine from Simon Ham, and a replacement gearbox borrowed from Jonathon Hughes, after the original had broken in Friday testing and …Cameron himself had rushed back to the Hi-Tech team base to pick it up, and then Mick Moberley had worked late to change it.

DCPR presented the fine trophies and amid much back slapping and laughter of friends & rivals alike, the animated exchanges of the season's excitements continued for some time.

Peter Jackson.                                                                                       18th Oct 2015.